Show f Y t 15 t tf a ae e n YYs s a e 6 e h r J Bl 0 Me HARRY PUGH W N U S INSTALLMENT The u Story So i U r Maguire M Pil i is vile lIfe of o happy go J au Pura i ra r Mike editor and nd mayor of Coy Cov banker Mays threatens toD toor to whom shorn horn D an for or ng rig his banking meth is tS mother of o tout lour children she he pressed by the depression d P aho ho had separated from hise his Tom he be Me dec deeded ded to move from ae a e when W ben s CHAPTER PTER n ID Eugene Mays his pompous nr Mr with Ith stumbled apoplectic rage rough re ce Luch the outer office and named the door behind him M ke trod yd m in the doorway grinning old so and so he cried The e I Hat Ha Haic Hae e C I got him worried warned have I got h hm m worried orned If K ou ask me rne laughed R he be s s on the ropes drag fie me down t Though he may Lb Ih him bun adm M 1 ke he ruefully u He Be and R strolled arm invin in m vin nn into the inner office Two of a at atad and t tad od Kathleen thought ImpractiCal Cal idealists with ith a gay almost fl t p pant pant panl d for tor consequences Ind ad thoroughly charming with it all you think it K s heroic to ling fling Mr back into h s face Mays as money she told M Mike ke m in a thick Jerky voice noble to bankrupt w Sou think it s yourself in ui fa ta or or of a town full of people who nho ho show their gratitude by to buy 3 our paper or advert adver II h t e ui m It it You are all puffed up be raise aLae you can t be bribed or scared oil off But has it ever occurred to toIna Ina who really foots toots the b 11 while you do your Don Qu stuff MIke MAt went quite white ute But Kath Kathleen lees leen could not stop Its It s mother who bears the brunt Ii who ho has bas borne it for tor years she shei a 55 d furiously It doesn t bother if il vt C haven baven t t any money or a decent house bouse to live m In or If it the car rats s fall all ng to p eves under us and there aren ren t glasses enough to go around You d just as soon be pent less as not You d probably get alock a alack lock kick out of ot begging on the street corner with a tin tm cup But Moth Mother Mother Mother- U- U Kathleen s voice broke Do Dofoo you foo real ze she s putting up 60 jars of at watermelon preserves today m in mIus inthis inthis this Ius heat to get money toward the taxes And she 1 t t had a new dress in two years She grew up With the best people in m this town but she can t run around with them any more because she can t afford to a And it isn t t fair air It isn t fair M R ke d d not speak But suddenly he looked almost old and his blue blueeyes eyes stared at her with something sr eken back of ot them Ka Kathleen real zed abruptly that it was as her lather to whom she had been speak speaking mg The father lather she had always adored And her heart almost broke at al the look in h s face But the b t had been accumulating m an ans mi s i de as her for months She could not noth nottie hie h Ie back the words although they ere ere such dreadful wounding things the lie angry words she spat at M keI keI ke I 1 thought you ou au were swell she ended p Iv w th a sob and I guess you are but t s at her expense I used to take t for granted she was happy But she isn ran t L She s been short shortchanged shortchanged shortchanged changed By I I lie fe and love or the lira bra n storm that passes for or love And it makes me sick Thank God GodI I Ill n never make the same mistake She wh ried on her heel beel and walked out ot of the room At her desk she dropped into her chair and stared blindly at her ber note pad And Ike quivered with the agony of what Ibe he had doneR done doneR Richie R stood bes de her He was very white How could you he asked She flung out her hands in a goad goaded goaded ed gesture Do you think I liked telling him those tense thugs things My daddy She robbed lobbed once and then her face hard hardened toed ened I don t care what you think Des Desp sp se me it II you 1 ke It doesn t matter Ills His long slender fingers finger gripped her ber shoulders till she flinched at his I We do matter to each other Kathleen Whether we want it that Ilove My way y or not We can t escape it 11 I IE love we you And you love me II If you still think I m in love with you you- foushe u she cried in ID a choked vo 10 ce cc H sad picked up her telephone She was several minutes securing her h Ieee Mr connection Gene this Is Ka Kath th lees n cn she cried into the receiver You iou know that 1 1 matter you veI ve ye teen een n trying to get me to consider I vs Ie made up my mind at last Sure 19 ID V you ve ye won out I m telling you marry you Whenever you say a my I iI have lunch with you to celebrate Until then all of the best bestar dear hearte heart e e e e e e Kathleen Kathleen and Hot Shot Mays had haden been lotof engaged for tor a week And a a lot of reflected good lood it tl had done him he reflect ed r edas as a he stared at her with morose eyes Ves over tall frosted glasses of fru tru t t punch inch in Henderson s drug store storer Kathleen een had promised to marry h b m But she had moree xi never xi d been more e exasperating She he had refused to wear Near his diamond Although he had seleCted elected a handsome two carat stone impressively set in m platinum She Shea said laid It ll would be time enough for tor that after their engagement had bad been ally announced She insisted he could name the day and she would be there tl re with the orange blossoms and a 8 yard or two t of ot bride s 8 veil vell Dut BUI If he be to so much as laid a finger on oa i Her she he turned on him I 1 ke a lit liti Ue ue Jungle i cat always You ou don t own me yet she al ways rt laid Bald u i U b city and nd she wouldn t t give up her job as s secretary Laura pa patched that tha t tup up however howe and divorce action aelton halted Alec Alee who Bho fell teU In love with Lou Knight the to In drunk a 8 daughter and secretly married her Shirley engaged to Jaird also out ot of o a Job lob v who ho pa p Ins her ring He hadn t even kissed her And SIX weeks ago Hot Shot Mays would not hate haie ha e believed that pass poss ble Have you ou told your folks about us yet et he now demanded with asperity Kathleen winced and sl 51 ook her ber head You act as if II you i ou au were aShamed of me or something Hell you re redoing doing grand to land me and you know it How s for my speak ng to your father tonight All AU right she said at last tell Dad at d that y wu U u have I something to say to him But odd 1 as it seems don t expect h m to fall on your neck He won t Maybe everybody ever body else in to vii will think I I ve ye pulled a fast one to grab you off But Mike will hate the Idea I He s funny that way I He s as funny as a hearse sa d Hot Shot Mays sourly But he can t go on acting the fool forever My old man says the Clarion won t last out the summer You aren t kidding me With the bread line Ime staring him m in the face your dad dadIn sill In heave one sigh of ot relief when I m his son in m law You are mistaken Kathleen said icily My father will never I 1 ck your boots nor anyone else s sAnd sAnd sAnd And it won t mean a thing to hun him that I m marrying money But it does to his daughter sneered Gene Mays I I What do you th tb His hard blue eyes mocked her You 1 U 11 find out some day he said Kathleen felt a rising t de of nau nausea nausea nausea sea She bad nad thought If it she mar married rued Gene Mays she need never war wor warry worry worry ry about the cost of ot anything But It came to her with a thud that Mrs Eugene Mays had paid aghast a ghast ghastly Is price for tor her limousine and her mansIOn and her trips abroad She hadn t had to make over last year sQ sF s sTon Q I l F M Mr r r 1 t V i III 1 You Ton act as if you were ashamed of me evening dresses nor had she been compelled to patch the living room curtains But she had lived with tarnished standards and bedraggled illusions Her children had grown grownup grownup grownup up in an atmosphere that belittled integrity and made a mock of honor hon honor honor or No wonder her ber daughter had no shame And her son s strongest attribute was as cruelty They had seen their mother from their cradles They had lived mt m in mt int t with luxury purchased by bythe bythe bythe the r mother s in m their father fa ther s de degeneracy genera cy At least Laura had never known that tha t particular hell bell She had drudged and economized and employed every ingen ous art arti flee fice to manage on Mike s a erratic earnings But corruption had not brushed her or hers Kathleen thought of her father A cego c cego cego ego st perhaps but clean As clean as a fierce w nd rid from the poles Mike had not swaddled his wife in m sables But ne nc ther had he taught her ch i idren Idren dren to sneer at her CHAPTER I I ve ye got to go back to the office Kathleen rose abruptly You t t have ent ced me away m in inthe inthe the middle of the morn ng At least while I m on the payroll I I can make a pretense of earning the old salary check Six weeks from now sa so d HotShot Hot HotShot HotShot Shot Mays and the Clarion payroll will have gone up in m smoke Kathleen s a slim hands locked And that will t t you and your father to pieces We won t shed any tears adm ad adm adm m tied tV-d Hot Shot Mays Kathleen stared into his compla complacent complacent complacent cent eyes and her throat tightened under a revulsion of feel ng rig that shook her from head to foot Eu Eugene Eugene Eugene gene Maya Mays and his son did not de deserve deserve deserve serve to triumph over M keCan keCan ke keCan Can you shed tears I mea I 1 she asked in m a stifled voice If It so turn on the faucet Because I J think r I 1 I I I to help him buy a hamburger stand TI cir marriage follows Kathleen who oho despite herself becomes Interested In Graham Craham also a ano ano no ne She thinks her father tather and he carry the fight to Mays Maya fOolishly She spurns his love Mays MaS Mai 5 ofTen offers Mikea Mike a 10 bribe I ve ye been a little goofy But I vu Vb come to And I m not marrying you Hot Shot gasped as if the breath had been knocked out of h mand m mand mI and h s face mottled with a fUrious dark flush You can t do th s to me he cried Can t I Kathleen sIps s 1 1 ps curl curled cd But I have I ve ye been cuckoo I Ith Ith Ith th Unbalanced by growing pa ns or something But I m over it thank God And I d rather de d e than mar marI marry marry ry She you turned and walked into the rickety building wh ch housed the Covington Clarion Hot Shot Mays stood perfectly still where she had hadI left h m his big hands clench rig ng ngI and unclenching helplessly But Kathleen hathleen forgot h m completely when hen she entered the ne newspaper of office flee fice Something was drastically wrong She knew it by the gray of Roger Whyte s tw ng face and the way Tommy South s mouth qu v vered vered vered ered when he looked at her and the beads of syo sweat eat on old Ducky M 1 ler s upper lip Up What is It she asked stopping qu te to st 11 ll Do you know where your lour our father Is asked Roger Whyte at last m in ma ina ina a thin quaver Kathleen caught her breath Has something happened to my father Someone was opening the door Kathleen whirled It had to be Mike She couldn t endure the knife that was abbing at her heart But It wasn t Mike It was Ritchie and he be was very white From a great I d stance she heard Tommy South s thin p ping voice Gee Mr Graham d do t you find I hm h m R shook h s head Roger Whyte suddenly dropped into his hischa hischa hischa cha r and covered his face with h s shands shands shands hands Old Ducky Miller carefully pol shed a piece of type while sla y v rusty tears ran do vu his withered cheeks Kathleen hathleen put out her hands bl Pitch Hitch e a no one will tell me hat chats s the matter No one knows knos know kno s Kathleen Re W ere e re only afraid Tommy South began to blubber I d ought to have followed him lum aft after after after er I seen h m going over those insurance papers Roger Whyte shivered The premium pre premium s due tomorrow and he hadn t the cash to pay It it he said He HeI told me so yesterday He called up Layer La yer gs th s morn ng and asked about the In Insurance insurance insurance clause sa d Old Ducky Miller huller wiping his eyes on h s shirt sleeve That s when he told me he was worth more to h s w v fe dead than all alive alne e Kathleen clutched at a cha r My father has fifteen thousand dollars worth of insurance in m favor of my mother she said in a high color colorless colorless colorless less voce vo 10 ce You th he s k lIed b She felt herself breaking up Shat Shattering into a m 11 B on pieces cried Ritch Pitch e a and caught her beating hands I I said everything cruel to him that I could dould think of she whys whispered I said he d taken his fun tun at Mother s expense I said he d cheat cheated cheated cheated ed her I said be he and love had short shortchanged shortchanged shortchanged changed her ber between th them m I was always h s favorite And now I ye Ie killed h mLaura mLaura m mLaura Laura stood in the center of her ber shabby 1 ving room and held onto her dusting rag until her fingers ached Until for tor weeks afterward she had only to close her eyes to feel the gritty cloth clenched in her herach herach herach ach ng rig hands bands I m afraid I don t understand she sa d You 11 have to tell me aga nI nI n nI I told h m he be had been an Ideal idealIstic clown while you bore the shock of his beau gestes repeated Kath Kathleen Kathleen Kathleen leen m in a dull voice I said hE had never been fa ta r to you Never NeverlI I II I tw tied h m because you ve ye had to wear shoes from the basement and trim your own hats bats And I sa so d you d got the dirty end of the stick al although although although though you never compla ned be because because cause you re not the wh kind I asked h m if it had never occurred to h h m what ha t a rotten bar bargain bargain gain you made when you refused Eu Eugene Eugene Eugene gene Mays to marry h m And I sneered and red what hat he thought you had got out of it if any th ng rig Laura h b s clear cheeks were sudden suddenly suddenly ly Iy scarlet I ve ye had the only man I ever wanted He s been m nc no Body and soul With no reservations Never once has he tailed failed me when I need needed needed needed ed his tenderness and his Ius under understanding understanding standing I d stake my Immortal soul on h s integrity He s given me memy memy memy my children Each of them Is stamped w th his ideal sm sin When the blackness threatens h s strong arm gathers my weakness in and strengthens it it He s a the rock under my feet The breath in fn my nos nostrils Sometimes I he lie beside him himat himat himat at n while he sleeps and my m heart almost bursts with gratitude because God gave him to me meno no 10 11 0 TiMi ro VT 11 H D lJJ |